Hyderabad: Five people were arrested on Wednesday by the Telangana police for allegedly conspiring to murder the state’s Excise and Tourism Minister V Srinivas Goud. The accused were nabbed from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader AP Jithender Reddy’s New Delhi residence.
Goud and Reddy, both from Mahbubnagar district have been political rivals for a while.
Cyberabad Commissioner of Police Stephen Ravindra said in a press conference on 2 March that Reddy’s associates, Madhusudan Raju and Amarender Raju, had offered Rs 15 crore as bribe to the other accused. Both the men have been placed under arrest currently.
The police has also recovered a 9 mm pistol, a country-made revolver and two live rounds from the accused.
The arrests were born out of a complaint lodged by two men: Farooq and Hyder Ali. They lodged a complaint on 25 February at Pet-Basheerabad police station. Farooq testified that Reddy’s PA had contacted him to kill Goud.
However, when Farooq got uncomfortable with the plan, he informed the police as he feared that Raju might attack him (Farooq). Raju’s associates – Yadaiah, Nagaraju and Vishwanath – are alleged to have followed Farooq and Ali on 25 February with knives in hand.
However, upon escaping, Farooq and Ali informed the cops.
Meanwhile, others involved in the alleged conspiracy, Manuru Ravi, Madhusudhan Raju, Raghavender Raju and Amarender Raju were provided shelter at the BJP leader’s residential quarters. The leader’s PA Raju allegedly arranged this stay.
“The role of the former MP (BJP leader) in the conspiracy is still being probed. But, his personal assistant Raju and driver Thapa provided shelter to the other accused in the case,” said Raveendra. While the police arrested five persons on 2 March, the BJP leader’s PA Raju is yet to be arrested.
